WMD Report: U.S. Remains 'Dangerously Vulnerable'

WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States remains "dangerously vulnerable" to chemical, biological and nuclear attacks seven years after 9/11, a forthcoming independent study concludes. Efforts to reduce access to nuclear technology and bomb-making materials have slowed, thousands of U.S. chemical plants remain unprotected, and the U.S. government continues to oppose strengthening an international treaty to prevent bioterrorism, according to the report produced by the bipartisan Partnership for a Secure America. The group includes leaders of the disbanded 9/11 Commission, the bipartisan panel that investigated government missteps before the 2001 terror attacks on the United States. "The threat of a new, major terrorist attack on the United States is still very real," concludes the report.

Terrorism

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) — Two suicide bombers blew themselves up at the gates of Pakistan's main weapons complex Thursday, killing 59 people and wounding 70, officials said. A Taliban spokesman claimed responsibility for the attack, one of the bloodiest yet in Pakistan's intensifying war with insurgent groups that are also destabilizing Afghanistan. Pakistani forces are involved in an escalating battle with Islamic extremists in two nearby regions of the country's violence-plagued northwest, despite government efforts to negotiate peace with extremist groups. Maulvi Umar, a spokesman for Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, a militant umbrella group, said the suicide bombings were revenge for airstrikes in Bajur, a militant stronghold near the Afghan border.

Algeria

ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) — A suicide car bomber rammed into a police academy as applicants lined up to register for classes early Tuesday, killing at least 43 people and injuring 45, officials said. The bombing in the town of Les Issers in the Boumerdes region, 35 miles east of the capital, Algiers, was the deadliest attack in recent years in the North African country. No group has yet claimed responsibility, but the country's al-Qaeda affiliate has said it was behind a series of bombings in the past two years. Tuesday's attack was the deadliest in years, according to official death toll figures. Most attacks have targeted the Algerian national security services and military, while others have struck foreigners. In December, a double suicide bombing in Algiers killed 41 people, including 17 U.N. workers. In April 2007, coordinated suicide strikes against the main government offices in central Algiers and a police station killed 33. Al-Qaeda in Islamic North Africa, formerly known as the GSPC, grew out of an insurgency in the 1990s, which left as many as 200,000 dead.

More Muslim Terror

TRIPOLI, Lebanon (AP) — A bomb ripped through a bus during Wednesday morning rush hour in a northern Lebanese city, killing 18 soldiers and civilians, security officials said, raising fears that an al-Qaeda-inspired militant group is stepping up revenge attacks against the military. The bombing was Lebanon's deadliest in more than three years, hitting a main Tripoli street crowded with people heading to work. The bus was left riddled with shrapnel, its windows blown out, as soldiers and bystanders carried away the dozens of bleeding wounded in the glass-strewn street. It was the first significant bombing in Lebanon in months and comes as the country is making moves to put three years of back-to-back crises behind it. Lebanese President Michel Suleiman was heading to Syria later Wednesday in the first visit there by a Lebanese president since 2005, aimed at patching up troubled ties between the neighboring countries. A day earlier, parliament approved a long-awaited national unity government between the Western-backed factions of Prime Minister Fuad Saniora and Iranian- and Syrian-backed Hezbollah.

Will Terrorism Be an Olympic Sport?

BEIJING — Chinese police stepped up security around Olympic venues Monday after one of the most deadly terror attacks in China in recent years left 16 policemen dead. The attack occurred in a restive region 2,000 miles west of Beijing where local Muslims, called the Uighurs (WEE-gurs), have waged a low-intensity rebellion against Chinese rule for decades. The Chinese government has long cited Muslim separatists in Xinjiang province as a reason for tight security at the Olympics, which begin Friday.

• JJ Commentary: Muslims, of course.

No Nuke Attack?

LONDON (AP) — Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff dismissed concerns Friday that al-Qaeda inspired terrorists could launch a nuclear attack against the West, saying the U.S. was more concerned about their use of conventional arms. Chertoff told students and journalists at London's Oxford Union that while some Islamic militants appear interested in acquiring weapons of mass destruction, they don't yet pose a serious threat. Chertoff's remarks followed a recent series of anonymous postings on al-Qaeda-affliated websites, including a 39-minute video, that exhorts militants to pursue nuclear and biological weapons for use against the U.S. Although none of the postings is known to be authentic, taken together they raise questions about whether jihadists have such capabilities and whether they can launch some kind of attack

• JJ Commentary: I hope he’s right but fear he’s not. What’s that the Bible says about a haughty spirit? Let’s not be tunnel-visioned and prepare for all possibilities. That being said, with open borders we’re at high risk for all these eventualities.